Chickens won’t sleep in duck coop - ideas?

[SquatchingNC]

Good Morning

Semi experience chicken flock owner, 1st duck flock. We have a converted dog run fortress for our flock of 6 ducks, they’re about 1.5 years old. A lot of predators (hence the chain link hardware cloth reinforced coop). It’s 10’ by 10’ I think, 6’ tall. Top and bottom fully wire enclosed as well. Our last flock of chickens got hit by raccoons, possums, hawks, and at the end pretty sure a fox or coyote.

My son in the fall brought home 3 hens-1 rooster maybe around a year old, “rescued ”. They are kinda wild, rooster is the nice one. Think they’re Cornish game hens. Someone abandoned them, he caught them in a trap.

We let them out during the day.

Anyway - they all seem to get along but I can’t get the the chickens to go into the coop at night w the ducks. They sleep way up in a tree in the thinnest of branches. I tried adding some roost spots in the coop, separate higher up nest box, locking the chickens in for a week - no go.

Any ideas? I’d rather not build another coop but I am concerned they’re going to get eaten.

 

[FrostRanger]

Pictures?

 

[Ridgerunner]

So chickens from a feral flock. Probably medium sized as opposed to big, likely some type of game. They stayed alive while feral by roosting in the trees so that is what they are used to. It is their habit. I agree, they are at risk while roosting in trees.

One week of locking them up was not enough to break that habit. Even with my domesticated chicks it sometimes takes as long as three weeks before the last ones get that message when I move them to a new coop. Most get it within a week but not always all of them.

Where did they sleep when you locked them in for a week? On a roost? In a cage? I guess it is possible the ducks are part of the problem but I would not think so.

I'm not sure of the details of what your facilities look like. I'd shoot for making them sleep on the roosts for another two or three weeks before they had the option of doing something else. That may mean locking them in the coop itself or locking them in a run with the coop where you could move them inside every night until they start putting themselves to bed in there. As well as they can fly that probably means a covered run.

Good luck with it. This kind of thing can be frustrating.

 

[Luv Ducks]

So chickens from a feral flock. Probably medium sized as opposed to big, likely some type of game. They stayed alive while feral by roosting in the trees so that is what they are used to. It is their habit. I agree, they are at risk while roosting in trees.

One week of locking them up was not enough to break that habit. Even with my domesticated chicks it sometimes takes as long as three weeks before the last ones get that message when I move them to a new coop. Most get it within a week but not always all of them.

Where did they sleep when you locked them in for a week? On a roost? In a cage? I guess it is possible the ducks are part of the problem but I would not think so.

I'm not sure of the details of what your facilities look like. I'd shoot for making them sleep on the roosts for another two or three weeks before they had the option of doing something else. That may mean locking them in the coop itself or locking them in a run with the coop where you could move them inside every night until they start putting themselves to bed in there. As well as they can fly that probably means a covered run.

Good luck with it. This kind of thing can be frustrating.

I know this post is not new but I wanted to add that if any of the ducks are males they can hurt chickens if they try to mate them. Their sex organs are entirely different. This could be why the chickens are afraid of them. Good luck with keeping them safe.